The early 1970s saw business boom for Gulas. As mentioned
earlier Christine Jarrett became more involved in the business end of the
company by helping open up and run shows in Kentucky and Indiana. Jerry Jarrett
became more involved in the behind the scenes end of things by basically
becoming co-promoter Roy Welch’s assistant. Jerry ended up booking the shows
in Memphis, which became the city that drew the largest attendance week in week
out on the circuit.

A young Kevin Sullivan also worked the territory for Gulas in
the early 70s. Around the same time another young man made his debut. He was
known as Dennis McCord. He gained some further fame as Iron Mike McCord but even
greater fame several years later as Austin Idol. Many fans saw Idol feud with
Sullivan in the early days of Atlanta’s TV superstation, WTBS. Sullivan would
have a long successful career both in-ring and behind the scenes. McCord would
return to the area as Idol years later and become a major attraction for the
promotion.

Nick Gulas’ son, George, debuted in ring in 1973 as a
"special referee" on cards throughout the territory. By 1974, George,
a tall, thin man, made his debut as a wrestler and immediately was placed in
prominent places on cards teaming with such stars as Jerry Jarrett, Tojo
Yamamoto and Jackie Fargo, the three biggest babyfaces of the time for Gulas.

Also making their presence known in the early 1970s were the
younger members of the Welch family. Buddy Fuller’s two sons, Ron and Robert
debuted. Buddy was the son of Gulas promoting partner, Roy Welch. Ron and
Robert’s cousin, Jimmy Golden also worked the area as did Lester Welch’s two
sons, Jackie and Roy Lee Welch. Also appearing from time to time were Johnny,
Marshall and Ricky Fields, nephews to Roy Welch.

The Welch family plays a vital part of pro wrestling
throughout the South for many decades. Not only was Roy Welch part of a
successful promotion with Nick Gulas but other members of the Welch family
became part of the business of wrestling promotion.

Lester Welch had bought into the Florida wrestling office
based in Tampa and operated by Cowboy C.P. Luttrell and Eddie Graham. Meantime,
Edward Welch, a/k/a Buddy Fuller, bought into the Georgia wrestling office based
in Atlanta along with Paul Jones, Fred Ward and Ray Gunkel. Gunkel and Fuller
became one of the area’s top tag teams of the 1960s. There was just one
problem though, away from the fans Gunkel and Fuller often clashed on how
business should be conducted. In 1972, Buddy Fuller, wanting out of the constant
bickering with Gunkel, which no doubt included how his sons, Ron and Robert,
would be used in the promotion, arranged a deal with his brother Lester Welch.
Lester would trade his Florida shares with Buddy’s Georgia shares. Lester came
to work in the Atlanta office while Buddy moved to work in the Florida office.

Later in the year, one of the remaining owners of the Atlanta
office, Ray Gunkel, died. His part of the company fell to his wife, Ann. The
Georgia office split when Ann Gunkel formed All-South Wrestling and acquired
much of the Atlanta-based talent. The one thing she did not take was the
sanction of the National Wrestling Alliance, who had long, well-established ties
to the Welch family. The NWA sent in stars from around the country to assist
Welch in Atlanta. By January 1973, the NWA put into place a new team to help run
the Atlanta office complete with new booker Cowboy Bill Watts. Until late 1974,
the NWA and All-South ran weekly wrestling cards against each other in many
Georgia cities. Some of Gulas’ stars made appearances for the NWA in Georgia
including Don Greene, Jackie Fargo, Tojo Yamamoto, Jerry Jarrett, Ron and Robert
Fuller, Jimmy Golden, Roy Lee Welch, J.C. Dykes and The Infernos and even a
young Jerry Lawler. The NWA eventually won the war and along the way Lester
Welch sold his part of the Atlanta promotion to Jim Barnett.

Looking for a booker for Atlanta, Barnett approached Jerry
Jarrett, who agreed to book Atlanta but only if he could continue working for
Gulas. Not long after this development Jerry was approached by Gulas and Buddy
Fuller about buying Roy Welch’s part of the promotion in Tennessee since
Roy’s health was in decline. Jarrett bought into the Gulas promotion and for
awhile, all was well as Gulas, Jarrett and Buddy Fuller, serving largely as a
silent partner, continued to give the fans what they wanted to see.

Obviously, Jerry Lawler made a name for himself in the
Tennessee territory in the 1970s. Lawler is truly a versatile performer. He
ranks very high on the lists of many who think he is the business’s best
talker. As he grew older he became somewhat more cautious in ring of what he
would do but early in his career Lawler was one of the best bump takers in the
business. (Bump taking is important for the heel since he must really sell the
offense of the babyface as something that the heel cannot overcome, thus he must
be able and willing to take more dangerous and exaggerated falls.) Discovered by
Jackie Fargo at a Memphis radio station, Lawler worked for Gulas as an undercard
performer. Lawler was advised to gain some more experience by working a
territory that had just opened. The territory was based in Montgomery, Alabama
and was operated by Bill Golden, father of Jimmy Golden. Jimmy was the grandson
of Gulas’ partner, Roy Welch. While in Alabama, Lawler teamed with Steve
Lawler (No relation, Steve was known later as Steve Kyle). While there Jerry
came in contact with veterans Jim White and Sam Bass in this territory. White
and Roy Klein were working the area as The Green Shadows. When they were
unmasked they were billed as Woodrow and Roy Bass. Sam Bass was then brought in
as their manager. Roy soon left and was replaced by Jimmy Hydes working as Percy
Bass. White eventually went to work for Gulas and Lawler soon followed.
Eventually White and Lawler teamed and added Jim Kent as their manager for
awhile before Bass took over the honors. This threesome would become trouble for
Nick Gulas’ babyfaces beginning in 1972. Lawler’s talents reached beyond the
wrestling ring as he drew a cartoon strip called "The Patriot" for theWrestling
Monthly magazine in the early 1970s. As the history of this territory
unfolds, Lawler will play an increasingly bigger role but by 1974, just three
years after his debut, he was already poised to become the territory’s top
star.

Gulas wrestling was wild stuff for the times. Some of the more
memorable angles of the early 1970s include a long-running feud between Al
Greene and Jackie Fargo. The feud featured hair vs. hair matches and shockingly,
Fargo, the top star, actually lost one of these matches, and had to have his
head shaved, despite an near mob-like Memphis crowd begging him not to go
through with the stipulations.

Len Rossi, one of Gulas’ top stars, was injured in an
automobile accident in late 1972. His injuries were severe enough to force him
to retire from active competition. In the summer of 1973, a recovering Len came
to watch his son, Joey, wrestle Sam Bass on Memphis TV. Joey defeats Bass with a
sleeper hold. Bass’ partners in crime, Jerry Lawler and Jim White, then argue
that Joey had illegally choked Bass. Tempers flare leading to Bass, Lawler and
White attacking the injured Len and leaving him a beaten man. This lead to a
series of matches pitting Lawler and White against Joey Rossi and Len’s
longtime tag partner, Bearcat Brown. (A similar scenario played out on the
eastern half of the territory around the same time featuring Terry Garvin and
Duke Myers and manager Jim Garvin attacking Len on television leading to matches
pitting Garvin & Myers against Joey and Brown.)

In late 1973, during the live Chattanooga TV show, announcer
Harry Thornton tried to conduct an interview with the daughter of wrestler Don
Greene. This would be a nice change of pace since fans rarely had the chance to
hear the relative of a wrestler talk about what life is like for them. Needless
to say the interview never was completed. The masked Interns and manager Dr. Ken
Ramey were wreaking havoc over much of the territory at the time. The Interns
and Ramey charge the announce position while Donna Greene is with Thornton.
Incensed that Thornton refuses to give them interview time then, one of the
Interns slaps Donna Greene. As Thornton and a horrified audience watched, Don
Greene, who had just wrestled and retired to the showers, rushed out covered in
soap to rescue his daughter.

Wrestlers were tarred and feathered (Bearcat Brown by Don and
Al Greene). Scaffold matches were held in the early 1970s (Jerry Jarrett vs. Don
Greene in Louisville). A manager was barred from appearing at ringside so he
disguises himself as a woman and ran into the ring and attacked the opposition.
(Sir Clements did this). Wrestlers were "run off the road while driving to
the TV show" and beat up on the side of the road (There were several angles
like this over the years most notably with The Bounty Hunters running Jackie
Fargo off the road which lead to Jackie showing up late on the TV show but only
after he called his brother, Roughhouse and requested he return to help him
battle The Bounty Hunters). There was even a cake presented that ended up in the
face of the honoree (The Bounty Hunters smashed Jackie Fargo into a cake). These
angles may not mean much today but much of this was occurring in a day and time
much tamer and conservative than now.

All these things lead us to our target start date of 1975.
Almost. Before looking at 1975 it is important that we examine 1974. This
appears to be the year the promotion began focusing less on tag teams and more
on singles matches and titles. In particular, much of the promotion began to be
focused on the past and future of the region. The past was represented ably by
longtime fan favorite Jackie Fargo, the King of Memphis. The future was being
represented by the upstart cocky heel, Jerry Lawler and his manager Sam Bass.